The Ivy bridge Food bank at All Souls Church in St Margaret's was running low on donations. Having increased delivery from every 3 days to every 7 days to help with social distancing, the size of the food parcels it gives also needed to increase. They needed more but they had less, so they sent out an email to supporters for help. Ellen brought this to our attention & we set out to do what we could to help. Here's our socially distanced reports:

29th April

T "On my run!! Are you joking. I wish 😂 did a brisk walk. Took some pics. Made the man be in the photo with me. Don’t think he really wanted to! Ha ha. He said he’d been trawling through cans of beans. He seemed tired but hey ho. I told him about goodgym and what we do and about the help we do in the area and that hopefully he’ll see more of us as we’ve set it up as a community mission to help them"

JP " I'm planning to ring the bell and gracefully retire 2m so someone can emerge tomorrow morning Picked up some Tesco goodies this evening"

4th May

Kate "I’ve just donated a couple of bags of long life items to all souls. Met John and a few others who were sorting through donations."

13th May

Monica "I went to the All Souls Church last week to drop off a donation and decided to walk there before lunchtime and as an additional bonus, it was a lovely warm and sunny day. Was a good walk and the church was easy to find and so was the office, clearly marked behind the church. The packages were dropped off and collected by a staff member."

Samia "I did the delivery during my lunch break at my non-redeployed job the other day as it's just a short walk away"

15th May

Mena "I got there approx 9.30am this morning. the guy there was super happy to see a GG T-shirt."

Bex "I went to all souls this morning and was pleased to see lots of donations! It was easy to drop your donation off and keep a safe 2m distance. "

Cathy I had a lovely walk riverside to All Souls Church to drop off food and toiletry items that had collected from my kind and generous neighbours. At the Church office, handed over to office manager Jon who warmly greeted me and said I hadn't been the first GGer there, asking curiously how I traveled (must be a story here somewhere 🙂). We had a good chat as he patiently answered my questions regarding the entire process of how the food bank operates.

On my return, crossed someone wearing a GG red shirt - another Jon! From GG Camden who had cycled to Kew Bridge and then ran from there. When we introduced ourselves found it fascinating how in-built it is to either want to come towards the person or extend a hand. He knew some folks from GG Richmond too, having participated in a event with us some time ago.

John "I've just left them a bag of groceries. Look who I saw who'd been there just before me... " ...It was Cathy!

Thanks Cathy for the excellent pun :) & for going to the extra effort of collecting from your neighbours! And well done to Bex for her second community mission, we all hope to be able to run with you soon!

All Souls aren't going anywhere and will always be grateful for your donations, see the pictures or their website for drop off times: www.allsoulschurch.org.uk/community/all-souls-ivybridge/foodbank/